Utilizing Countermovement Jumps As A Measure Of Match Preparedness In NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer

Abstract

PURPOSE: Training load quantification and monitoring is used in collegiate athletics to help coaches and supporting staff to determine whether players are prepared for upcoming matches. The purpose of this study was to assess the within-subjects correlation of matchday countermovement jump (CMJ) height and the 7-day sum of training load variables preceding matchday in NCAA Division I women’s soccer athletes. The authors hypothesized that matchday CMJ height would show negative moderate correlations with the 7-day sum of training load variables. METHODS: A total of 23 female soccer players (20 ± 1.1 years; 1.70 ± 0.07 m; 64.6 ± 7.0 kg) participated in this study. Data from seven matches from the 2020 season were included in this analysis. Repeated measures correlations (rmcorr) were used to determine the within-subjects correlations of matchday CMJ height and total distance covered (TD), training load score (TLS; using training impulse [TRIMP] calculations), number of sprints, and distanced covered at high-speed (< 9.32 mph; HODO). Alpha was set a priori at p ≤ 0.05 and the data was analyzed using R Studio (version 1.4.1106, R Studio, Boston, MA, USA) executing R (version 4.0.4, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA). RESULTS: The correlations between training load variables and matchday CMJ height were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The matchday CMJ height showed very weak nonsignificant relationships with TD (r = -0.071, p = 0.450, 95% CI = -0.254, 0.116), TLS (r = -0.016, p = 0.874, 95% CI = -0.191, 0.223), number of sprints (r = -0.116, p = 0.218, 95% CI = -0.296, 0.071), and HODO (r = -0.011, p = 0.904, 95% CI = -0.175, 0.197). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the CMJ height may not be a good indicator of matchday preparedness in collegiate Division I women’s soccer as it did not correlate with the 7-day sum of training load variables preceding matchday. Future research should aim to address other strategies to assess matchday preparedness in collegiate women’s soccer in order to enhance training periodization to better prepare the athletes for competition.